Protect Vermont’s Wildlife from Traps & Bear Hounding!
Speak up now to support H.172
The Vermont State Legislature is currently considering a bill, H.172, that would ban traps and bear hounding across the state—and we need your help to get it passed! H.172 would protect wildlife, humans, and companion animals from traps and hunting bears with the use of hounds.
Science does not support trapping as a legitimate means of wildlife management. Twelve Project Coyote Science Advisory Board members and staff, all leading wildlife scientists, have drafted and signed a letter opposing trapping that sets forth the relevant science and value-based arguments against trapping.
Although the bill faces an uphill battle during a session focused on addressing the pandemic, and the current version of the bill makes exemptions for wild animals causing damage and its language leaves room for improvement, we still need to show strong support and gratitude for its introduction! We know that trappers and hounders will fiercely oppose it, so your voice and action are vital.
Here’s how you can help end cruel trapping & bear hounding!
1. Send an email to the state’s House Committee on Natural Resources, Fish & Wildlife asking them to SUPPORT H.172 banning trapping and bear hounding statewide, and thank Representative McCullough for sponsoring this vital piece of legislation.
a. Please copy and paste these email addresses for the Committee members into your email TO field:
asheldon@leg.state.vt.us, plefebvre@leg.state.vt.us, sbongartz@leg.state.vt.us, kdolan@leg.state.vt.us, jmccullough@leg.state.vt.us, nbrownell@leg.state.vt.us, hsmith@leg.state.vt.us, kmorris2@leg.state.vt.us, lsatcowitz@leg.state.vt.us
b. Use the talking points below, and please include your Vermont city of residence.
2. Spread the word by sharing this alert and the video below through social media!
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Talking Points ~ Please personalize!
Trapping:
- Traps are cruel. Animals in traps may succumb to exposure, dehydration or predation, or even chew of their own limbs trying to escape. There are no standards that dictate how trapped animals must be killed. They are bludgeoned, stomped on (to crush the animal’s heart and lungs), drowned, strangled and killed by other inhumane methods. If the animal is “lucky,” s/he is shot.
- Traps are inherently indiscriminate and are responsible for injuring and/or killing protected and endangered species each year in Vermont, as well as dogs and cats. Send them this gut-wrenching video showing the first-hand experience of encountering and rescuing a coyote ensnared in a leghold trap. (Warning: video contains graphic imagery.)
- Non-lethal methods are more effective at protecting public health and livestock.
- Traps endanger the public and family dogs. Traps may be set on public land, including National Wildlife Refuges, with no required signage or setbacks from trails or entry points.
- The vast majority (75%) of Vermont residents want to ban trapping. Read more about the University of Vermont’s 2017 poll here.
- Traps are increasingly banned globally and across the US. They have been banned in 88 countries. Their use is banned or restricted in several U.S. states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Washington. The New Mexico Governor just signed a bill banning traps, snares and poisons on the state’s public lands.
Hound Hunting of Bears:
- Hunting with hounds is not wildlife management; it violates fair chase principles and is increasingly opposed by hunters and the public alike. Vermont’s black bears do not need lethal management.
- Most residents and many hunters in Vermont do not support this cruel form of hunting. Hunting with hounds stresses bears, even if they are not killed at the end of the chase. During the training season, nursing mothers waste vital calories fleeing from hounds. Cubs are also in direct danger if they can’t flee from the hounds fast enough or fall from a tree.
- Hounding is also cruel to the dogs and non-target wildlife. Hounds are also injured and stressed, especially during hot weather. Hunters often have no control over their hounds, who are often miles away from hounds and can be hit by cars or trespass on private property while in pursuit of bears. Because hounds track bears across large spaces, they invariably pursue and stress non-target animals including deer, moose, small mammals and ground nesting birds.
- Bears are integral to Vermont’s ecosystems.They provide ecosystem services such as insect control and soil nutrient enrichment by eating colonial insects and moth larvae and breaking up logs as they search. They also eat fruit, thereby dispersing seeds (functioning like insect pollinators!).
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Thank you for helping to end trapping & bear hounding in Vermont!
Camilla Fox
Founder & Executive Director
Dr. Michelle Lute
National Carnivore Conservation Manager